Enduring
by CMW2
Summary: Her father always said:"Dust yourself off and press on, Anne Catherine." He never said that she had to do it alone and even if he did, Auggie's not letting her. SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE;A/A friendship with a tiny hint of more;41st in my 2010 SSS Project


**Author's Note: Good morning, everyone. Here's a new fic for you guys to enjoy while I suffer at school. I have mixed feelings about the finale. I loved all the A-Squared interactions (especially the scene when he's all hardass with the Cover Department…I nearly melted) and the Campbells v. Henry Wilcox political intrigue but of all things I expected to happen, I didn't expect them to kill Ben. I actually liked him and it hurt a bit to see him go. In my opinion, Jai's the one that needed the bullet. Even though he's not as bad as his dad, he's still a manipulating, lying by omission asshole and Annie should've at least bitch slapped the guy for playing her but I guess TPTB are saving that for next summer. **

**Anyway, I want to put my two cents in with the Aftermath fics and since it's me, it'll be chock full of A-Squared friendship and comforting. **

**MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE S1 FINALE. If you haven't seen it (or all of it) yet, then you're going to be one unhappy camper with me. An update on **_**To The Shore **_**will be up before the end of the weekend (hopefully…curse you, school!), along with the sequel to the high school fic. I figured we could all use the fluff.**

**Disclaimer: "Honestly, it's not mine!"**

Annie Walker sat alone at a table in the back, a tumbler of Smirnoff in her hand. It had been Ben's favorite and any little thing she could do for tribute, she would. There would be no funeral. Ben Mercer had no surviving family and she certainly didn't have enough money to plan one. Annie wasn't even sure that she would if she did. Even though she still loved him, he had lied to her, abandoned her, and got her into yet another round of Mortal Peril. It was bad enough when the Campbells did it…

She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't happy that Arthur Campbell's job was under siege by Henry Wilcox. The man deserved some kind of punishment for making her into a worm on a hook and since shooting him in his perfectly coiffed head would do nothing but get her in prison, watching him scramble to keep his position would be karma at its finest.

As for Joan…she was still her boss and she'd respect her but it would be a very long time before Annie decided to trust her with outside matters again. In the end, Joan had no choice to stab her in the back but that didn't change the fact that she had done it so like her husband, she could go to hell.

With a defiant frown, she pounded back the shot, brutally suppressing the coughs and sobs that wanted to escape her. It had been 3 weeks and 4 days since Ben had died in her arms and she was not going to make herself into a spectacle to be pitied and mocked. No. She would continue at the Agency and save her tears for her pillow.

Her father always said that Walkers were strong, that they didn't let life's shit get them down and they certainly didn't have time for self pity. Dust yourself off and press on, Anne Catherine. The bastards will only win if you give up…

"Annie?"

Speaking of bastards…

"Go away, Jai." she replied coolly. "You assignment's been accomplished."

"You weren't just an assignment to me, Annie."

The glare she gave him could've blistered paint. How dare he come over here like they were friends, like what he did was just a mere misunderstanding? The only reason they had met at all was because of Arthur Campbell's machinations. She was nothing more to him than an Op, a way to glean Intel…

"Thank you for saving my life in London and for helping in Sri Lanka but overall, you can go to the special place in hell that Wilcoxes have. Get out of my face."

"Annie…"

"She told you to leave, Jai. Get gone." Auggie Anderson ordered icily as he set down a basket of fried tavern food with a father hen look of _**"Eat or I'll make you."**_

Annie accepted it and said to him, "There's a chair at your 9 o' clock." effectively dismissing Jai.

After he finally left, Auggie asked, "How are you holding up?"

"As well as can be expected. I'm still having nightmares but my hands don't feel constantly stained with blood anymore. That's progress, right?"

"Yeah, it is. I know this is going to sound cliché but…anything you need from me, whether it be a sandwich or for me to accidentally freeze all of Jai's bank accounts…"

A very small smile curved her lips, unnatural but genuine all at once.

"…then you tell me. None of that brave shit. You don't need it with me."

"Auggie, I don't want to…"**_ burden you...  
_**

"_**No**_." he cut off in his strident "Listen or else" tone. "The worst thing you can do right now is block it out and hold it in because not only will it extend your time with the company shrink, it'll fester and eat you alive. I won't let that happen to you. I _**can't**_ let that happen to you."

_**I don't want you to end up like me.**_

She always forgot about Auggie's issues. Not because she didn't care. No, that wasn't it. It was just that the man had such a way of suppressing things that one didn't know he was hurting until he snapped or ran off to Canada with a renegade ex. Once again, he was opening up a little and protecting her. He was always protecting her for no reason other than…

"Of all the people I've met at Langley, you're the only person who hasn't tried to get anything from me. You're my friend simply because you want to be. It's…thank you, Auggie."

He reached across and twined their fingers together firmly, sending warmth through her veins for the first time since before she burned the note.

"You don't have to thank me, Annie. I said that I was on your side and I will be until you tell me otherwise."

Of all the things people had said to her in times of hardship, what he just said was the sweetest, heaviest, most raw thing she had ever heard.

Giving into the impulse again, she pressed a kiss to his cheek, not failing to notice the skip in his pulse.

Annie made a silent promise to explore that once her head was on straight.

Right now, she was content just to have him at her side, on her side, as always.


End file.
